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(By Silvia Bernardini, December 9, 2005) Food: sustaining life ... and tourism The San Miguel Gourmet Fair two weeks ago was a true success. Producers who exhibited and sold their products were delighted with the event. Many of them found new distribution channels for their products—which was the main goal of the Fair. The last weekend, I was invited to Chiapas by its Secretary of Tourism. At that time in Tuxtla Gutierrez, the capital of the state, there was a similar exhibition of organic Mexican products from Mexico. I had never been to Chiapas, but I knew of its reputation as a favorite destination for European tourists. In fact, I noticed an interesting phenomenon. Here in San Miguel, we deal primarily with a North American tourism, but in Chiapas, the tourists are almost exclusively European. So one goal of my trip, among others, was to foster some cooperation between the two states in an effort to account for and balance out this disparity. I was received by the Secretary of Tourism of the beautiful colonial city of San Cristóbal. We had a fruitful conversation about my research. We agreed that foreign tourism is a catalyst for sustainable local development projects, particularly in indigenous communities. We also discussed the fact that both San Cristobal and San Miguel have relatively short, but intensive, tourist seasons. We agreed that the influx of tourists needs to expand to include other times of the year, in order to have lesser environmental impact on the territory and to generate year-round jobs and income. After our somewhat lengthy meeting, we were asked what we wanted to eat. I said I was interested in local food since, as in San Miguel, it’s very difficult to find good Mexican autochthon food at late hours. As it turned out, we ate in a fonda that served only tostadas—but they were so good! It was interesting to see that two of the most important tourist places in Mexico have the same problems: a relatively short season and a lack of restaurants that serve real Mexican cuisine. In both cities, it’s easy to find international cuisine, fusion food and funny things like that—yet it’s difficult to find good Mexican food. Why? I think part of the reason is that Mexicans still have difficulty recognizing the unique value of their culinary traditions. What seems obvious and normal to them has an unbelievable potential for the development of tourism. Moreover, Mexico is the second most biologically diverse country in the world, providing a virtual cornucopia of different food sources. Foreigners are more aware of this than Mexicans themselves, and tourists seek out expressions of biological and cultural diversity—especially in food. During my visit, I witnessed some interesting realities—surprisingly different from the Mexico we know in the Bajío. We saw a church in San Juan Chamula, where indigenous traditions are still very strong. The town, situated in a valley, has a big church at its center with people praying in native languages to strange gods. Catholic priests are not allowed in the church, and all the rituals are still those of the indigenous traditions. We also visited the community of Zinacantan, where a group of women make what they call artesanías: these Chiapan arts and crafts are objects used in daily life, not gadgets made up to suit the foreign market. These indigenous women welcome you into their home kitchens, which are very different from what we call a “kitchen.” It’s a room with a big fire in the center—with no chimney—so the smoke is strong and thick, following whatever path it can find to exit the room. In their kitchens, we were offered freshly made tortillas, beans, chorizo and a wonderful salsa. After the merienda (brunch), I passed by the arts and crafts market—the meal had inspired me to buy their merchandise. I ended up spending some money and bringing home some beautiful items from Chiapas. San Cristóbal offers a very nice nightlife. Many bars and restaurants feature live music, and you can chose between salsa or music from the Latin American highlands. You can enjoy some tapas but, in that respect, I must admit I was expecting better quality than I found. It’s interesting to see how the businesses that cater to the tourist industry—at all levels—are still missing the importance of promoting and developing the local cuisine. Foreigners who come to Mexico want to eat good, authentic Mexican food. I had a very productive meeting with representatives of the hotel association in San Cristóbal. They had recently finished a workshop led by an economist specializing in the development of small, tourism-oriented enterprises. We were all saying the same things. The next day, I visited the splendid Cañon del Sumidero, situated in the high mountains at 1000 meters above sea level. The government built a dam there to store water and to generate electric power. In the canyon, there is a tour service that features boat rides through the entire canyon, to observe incredible stalactites—strange rock formations constructed by the flow of water—as well as fish and birds. And all of this lies under the most beautiful blue sky! At the dam, the river opens up to a very big lake where you can enjoy the quiet or visit the Ecological Park. It’s interesting to see how the Chiapans recognize the importance of ecotourism and have learned to generate an income from the natural riches of their territory. San Cristóbal and San Miguel are sister cities, and now we’re planning to build a communications network to organize “exchange” tours between the two areas. But the area requiring the most work is creating awareness among our respective tourism businesses that supports the development and promotion of fine Mexican cuisine. If tourism can create market and demand for high-quality dining and food products, this could become a catalyst for developing many excellent options and venues for Mexican cuisine, which can only be good for local economies. |